Diver missing on Andrea Doria

[wrybosome]

Not directly relevant to the accident here, but this is an interesting presentation about diving the Doria if anyone is curious to see what's involved. The speaker is talking about it from the point of view of a first timer on the wreck, on OC, diving on the Wahoo. Fairly long but I thought it was interesting.

https://youtu.be/UJJjoxPwAVU?list=FLGNn1B-xp0JHedTGBZJC_6w

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I don't have any dog in this fight, but I would make an analogy that blaming the boat captain for a diver death would be the same as blaming a taxi cab driver for the death of a free climber if he were to take him to the climbing site.

Isn't it the diver who is responsible for the planning and safe execution of the dive?

Safe dives . . . . . .
. . . safer ascents !

the K

The dive operator can perform all kinds of functions and put into place all kinds of policies which will tend to reduce the rate of accidents and also mitigate the severity of the emergencies that do occur.

Those are general comments and not intended to place blame on any particular operator. However, I do agree that in a huge majority of situations, the boat operator can not do anything to change the outcome.

 

[SeaCobra]

Dive plans dissolve in water

 

[rhwestfall]

Dive plans may dissolve in water

fixed that for you...

 

[decompression]

Article.......https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/08/dive/1nCHQf4t6iKoU0BHzRPdMK/story.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Seya]

Great article and still such a sad story.

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[KathyV]

Article.......https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/08/dive/1nCHQf4t6iKoU0BHzRPdMK/story.html

Thank you for the excellent article, what a tragedy. I feel so bad for his family. There is no easy way to lose a loved one but the uncertainty of such a death is very painful. My husband's uncle was lost at sea - not diving - he was on a yacht that was caught in a storm and disappeared with all hands. It was a long time ago but the sadness never completely goes away for those close to him. His body washed up on a beach a month later and that gave the family some closure. I hope that Tom Pritchard's body is recovered, but not if it means taking great risks with the lives of others.

 

[oldschoolto]

Sounds like he would have been happy with his final dive and resting place... Rest in peace "Doc".....

Jim....

 

[KathyV]

I am very surprised that Richie Kohler wanted to work on efforts to recover Tom Pritchard's body, after his experiences being sued due to leading a team to the Andrea Doria (on the John Jack) and recovering the body of a diver that had a heart attack, see the link below by John Chatterton.

I am not suggesting that the Pritchard family have any plans or intentions of suing anybody; I was just surprised to see Richie Kohler was willing to take the risks again after his previous unpleasant experiences.

But I think he feels very strongly about the need to bring closure to the families of victims. I can understand that. It was evident in Shadow Divers when he spoke about the satisfaction of telling the families of the U-Boat crew about the final resting place of their long-lost loved ones.

Caution! Chatterton expresses some very negative opinions about lawyers and the US legal system:
Send Lawyers Guns & Money

BTW, Tom Pritchard posted a comment about Chatterton's blog article. It sounds like he was a very fair-minded and thoughtful individual, a sad loss.

 

[boulderjohn]

Caution! Chatterton expresses some very negative opinions about lawyers and the US legal system:
Send Lawyers Guns & Money

I saw that when John first published it, and it scared me greatly then. It still does now. Since then, I have become extremely familiar with a several other legal cases with some similarities to the main problem John identifies in this article. More importantly, though, there is a current case and another earlier one, both in countries other than the U.S., that have an even more frightening aspect because it is not sleezebag lawyers causing the problems. The problem in these cases has been prosecutors making charges based on the actual laws of the land in which the incident occurred. Under these laws, an experienced diver is required to make an effective rescue of another diver, and the death of that diver appears to be proof that the experienced diver did not perform an effective rescue and is thus guilty. If such laws become common, we are in trouble.